Was That George McFly In The First GOP Debate?


The buzz tonight is all about the GOP Presidential Candidates Debate in South Carolina. It was with great enthusiasm that I sat down to watch the debate. To date I do not have one candidate that truly sticks out as a solid choice for me.

There was one candidate tonight that I did not know at all. As a former governor of New Mexico, Gary Johnson was a new name and face to me.

Right out of the gate I was somewhat impressed with him. When asked about his views on Afghanistan he immediately earned my respect, saying that we should leave tomorrow. He added that he realized leaving tomorrow would take approximately 3 months.

Unfortunately, Mr. Johnson did not continue to impress me. At one point I literally stared blankly at the TV, not believing that I was actually hearing and seeing correctly! But my eyes and ears were not deceiving me!

Gary Johnson- a man applying for the job of President of The United States- actually interrupted Chris Wallace to complain that he was not receiving enough questions! Are you kidding me? He continued on, going from bad to worse, when he compared himself to the idea of the “fair tax”, stating the “fair Johnson” should be applied.

Chris Wallace assured Mr. Johnson that he had a question for him coming up.

It was like watching a warped TV episode of “Back To The Future”. Gary Johnson laughed nervously, stumbling awkwardly over himself in true “George McFly” style.

After one of the other candidates completed answering his question, Chris Wallace turned to Mr. Johnson, stated that he was glad to get to him. To this, Mr. Johnson replied sheepishly, “Great. Thanks!”

Quite honestly, the question that was asked of him was a very important question concerning Medicaid and Medicare but I could not have told you how Mr. Johnson answered the question had I not implemented the luxury of modern technology. Thankfully, I had DVR’d the debate. I had to rewind the DVR twice to actually hear what Mr. Johnson had to say because I was so embarrassed for him!

After he completed his answer, he thanked Chris Wallace, and it seemed as though the evening was going to move along as planned. However, Brett Baier must have felt sorry for Mr. Johnson as well, because he interjected a quick comment to him that they would be “fair and balanced” with the questions the rest of the evening.

Once again I could only stare at the screen in horror and embarrassment for this poor man! Is he serious? Once again, the images of George McFly flashed before my eyes! Gary Johnson- GOP Presidential Candidate for 2012- grinning a goofy grin, pointed his finger playfully at Brett Baier and said, “fair and balanced… that’s what I was thinking!”

What? You have got to be kidding me!

It continued to be a point of banter a bit later when Shannon Bream had her turn to ask the candidates questions. She turned her attention to Mr. Johnson, and said, “Governor Johnson, another question for you…”  You could hear the hint of laughter in her voice. She tried. She really did. And she almost made it to the question without actually laughing. But she didn’t quite make it. You could hear the ripples of laughter lightly sprinkled throughout the crowd, and Ms. Bream allowed a small, seemingly embarrassed chuckle to escape her before she asked Mr. Johnson his question.

Unfortunately, his answer did not impress me greatly. The question was regarding his stance on immigration, and he went on to explain that he was not in favor of putting up a fence to protect our borders. He turned my head a bit when he explained his idea for a “grace period” for illegal immigrants who are here now to be able to get work visas. While I do not believe his idea will actually work, I think it is a start. However, I STRONGLY disagree with him regarding a border fence! We MUST secure our borders or we are not going to have a country to be concerned about immigrants- legal or illegal.

By the end of the debate it appeared that Gary Johnson had regained some sense of self-respect, albeit it very little. There was no more whining from him about not receiving as many questions as the other candidates. The panel composed themselves and were able to ask him questions without having to stifle their giggles and reassure the Presidential Candidate that he was going to be treated “fair and balanced”. However, I found it very interesting that he received a somewhat “whimsical” question asking him if he had a reality show, what he would call it. Yet another odd and uncomfortable moment for Mr. Johnson!

While there were other issues discussed that I won’t discuss here, there is one last issue that I will cover.  Gary Johnson’s stance on this issue absolutely, without a doubt lost my vote if he had not already, when he discussed his pro-choice views. No thank you, Mr. Johnson! No thank you!

To paraphrase Biff, “Hello? Hello? Anybody home? Huh? Think, Johnson. Think!”  

You are applying for the job of Leader of The Free World! We already have one whiney weasel in the White House currently! What makes you think We The People will willingly elect yet another whiney weasel on the other side of the aisle? If you want this job you have to at least appear Presidential! Mr. Johnson- tonight you did not appear Presidential at all! Issues aside, America needs and wants a President with class. I’m not so sure you will get another chance to show us if you have class or not.

If I close my eyes really tight, I can almost hear that embarrassed and nervous chuckle/giggle/cackle from George McFly…..”Ah-ha-ha-ha, very funny.”

Well, not so much, Mr. Johnson. No so much!

Support Conservative Daily News with a small donation via Paypal or credit card that will go towards supporting the news and commentary you've come to appreciate.

Rich Mitchell

Rich Mitchell is the editor-in-chief of Conservative Daily News and the president of Bald Eagle Media, LLC. His posts may contain opinions that are his own and are not necessarily shared by Bald Eagle Media, CDN, staff or .. much of anyone else. Find him on twitter, facebook and

Related Articles

Back to top button